Who are the people on your team?

When we grow our businesses we end up growing our team to include a number of people who become valuable resources or contributors to our business. When learning about setting up a business, some of these terms can be a little confusing so I’m here to share a list of business contributor definitions.

Here goes.

  1. Business Partner.
    An individual or company who has some degree of involvement with another entity’s business dealings. The term ‘business partner’ can have a wide range of meanings, with one of the most frequent being a person who, along with another person, plays a significant role in owning, managing, or creating a company (two best friends who start a business together would consider themselves business partners). The term is also frequently used for two businesses that cooperate, to any degree, such as a computer manufacturer who works exclusively with another company who supplies them with parts.*
  2. Business Collaborator.
    Cooperative arrangement in which two or more parties (which may or may not have any previous relationship) work jointly towards a common goal.* Collaborators can be businesses providing complimentary services to yours (eg a copywriter working with an editor) or they could even offer the same services as you and work to help each other’s businesses grow.
  3. Affiliate.
    An affiliate is someone who sells your products on your behalf and receives a commission for each sale. The company generally provides marketing materials such as text, images and links to help the affiliate direct customers to the shop (usually online) and usually provides individual tailored link addresses so the successful sales can be measured.
  4. Contractor.
    A business or entity that provides you with a service and is not an employee. A Virtual Assistant is usually a contractor.
  5. Sub-contractor.
    A business or entity that works for you as a contractor, but is specifically providing services to your clients on your behalf.

 

I hope this helps!

 

* http://www.businessdictionary.com/